News

Mobile Operators Frustrated with RCS Delays

by Jill Flett | 22nd April 2013

Flexible Deployment Options will Drive RCS Rollouts and Success

Dublin, Ireland, 23rd April 2013 In a survey released today by Yankee Group and commissioned by Openmind (www.openmindnetworks.com), findings reveal that even though Mobile Operators are engaged with RCS and committed to launching the services, the vast majority of Mobile Operators are frustrated with the delays. The clock is ticking, and with each passing day, competing OTT players are extending their customer reach and feature sets. The survey shows that Mobile Operators need to act decisively and introduce RCS services, and for this reason, they should consider deployment options that allow them to bring services to market quickly. For those that do not have an IMS network deployed today, a pre-IMS or hosted RCS solution makes a lot of sense.

The survey, which requested the opinions of RCS influencers from Mobile Operators located in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, revealed that nearly 70% are dissatisfied with the speed with which RCS services are being introduced into the market by mobile operators.

Encouragingly for the industry, more than 50% of respondents will launch RCS services by the end of 2013 with 85% having approved or are in approval cycles for the Business Case.

65% of Mobile Operators expressed a strong interest in a hosted RCS solution, enabling them to launch RCS prior to the deployment of an IMS core. Interestingly, when asked to rate their interest in working with a specialist messaging/RCS company, who can provide end-to-end solutions in partnership with leading IMS and RCS client providers, operators were quite willing to look beyond their IMS core network vendor. In total a significant 85% of respondents expressed interest in working with a specialist vendor for RCS.

Author of the White Paper, Declan Lonergan, VP of Yankee Group, commented ‘It is certainly in the Operators’ best interest to launch RCS-based services as quickly as possible. It was clear from the survey that Mobile Operators are willing to adopt alternative options that will accelerate the rollout of RCS, including hosted options in a pre-IMS environment”.

Alex Duncan, CEO of Openmind, also commented “Mobile Operators are clearly frustrated with the delays in RCS to date. However, by partnering with a vendor that can offer flexible deployment and adaptable alternatives, such as Openmind, the best RCS solution that meet their specific needs can be delivered, driving the success of RCS”.

Since the foundation of Openmind in 2003, its messaging platform; Traffic Control, now powers over 1 Billion Messages every day, with over 120 installs all over the world. Our customers include all consumers of Messaging solutions – Mobile and Inter-Carrier Operators, Social Media Network providers and direct to the consumer, with the launch of a Tablet Messaging App; Dinamotxt. Openmind has recently emerged as a leader in RCS space, delivering turn-key solutions with flexible deployment options.